Campaign 2004 officially under way, US President George W. Bush was using his State of the Union address last night to call for modest expansions in health care and job-training programs, while urging Americans to stand behind him in the war on terrorism.
Bush was using one of the year's brightest political spotlights to highlight his election-year agenda, a day after Democrats formally kicked off their presidential nomination selection process in the Iowa caucuses.
PHOTO: AFP
Senators John Kerry of Massachusetts and John Edwards of North Carolina rode late surges to a one-two finish, pushing former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, the early favorite, to third. Republican Dick Gephardt of Missouri finished a poor fourth.
In his nationally televised address, Bush would open with remarks on national security, then move into domestic priorities, contrary to past practice, aides said. He will urge Americans to back him on combating terrorism, arguing that the path he has chosen, including invading Iraq, is the right one.
The president changed the order of his speech, ending it with a long section on domestic concerns, at a time when Americans' priorities are shifting to domestic issues. An ABC News-Washington Post poll published yesterday showed the number of Americans who want him to devote most of his speech to domestic issues has risen from 31 percent just before the 2002 address to 40 percent today.
A year ago, Bush was preparing the nation for the Iraq war, which would come less than two months after his address to Congress. This year Bush is eager to maintain public support for postwar operations in Iraq, where the death toll for American troops passed 500 this week.
Bush's job approval rating, 58 percent in the ABC-Washington Post poll taken on Sunday, is higher than for any president at this point in his term since President Dwight Eisenhower in 1956. Bush's poll numbers are buoyed by his leadership on the fight against terrorism -- 66 percent approval -- but dragged down by concerns over domestic issues, such as health care, immigration and the economy.
The second half of Bush's speech would especially focus on the economy, which has rebounded strongly since the president declared the end of major combat operations in Iraq in May. Bush will seek to convince Americans that his series of tax cuts has turned the economy around, and that he is now turning his attention to job creation, aides said.
Bush would call for new job-training grants channeled through community colleges to help prepare American workers for a changing economy.
Democrats said they were determined to make sure the president does not get too much credit; he has cut vocational education and an array of job-training programs in recent years, they said.
Democrats, gearing up for an election-year battle, began criticizing elements of Bush's speech last week. They also sought to remind voters of missteps in Bush's previous State of the Union addresses.
On Jan. 28, 2003, Bush uttered the now-infamous "16 words" about Iraq: "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." His officials later disavowed the line.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese